[TV] House of the Dragon

[Raetary]

But did they took the baby out though? it was not clear, i imagined there was a timeframe to do both

Was her holding her swollen bloody belly not enough of an indicator?

No, they didn't take out the baby.
She'd be already dead if they did.

[DarkAmbient]

Another strong episode, with some caveats. It was hard to look past the fact that Larys, Cole and Daemon clearly hadn't aged a day in comparison to the other characters who'd been replaced with new actors due to the time skip, but the replacements were good IMO. And what a devious shit Larys is, he's going to be a lot of fun. Visually it towers over Rings of Power, the world feels more real and even the costumes are better.

I do think the pacing is off. Harwin and Laena had barely any screen time and consequently their deaths were robbed of some emotional weight. The timeskips are necessary considering the story they're telling but characters need room to breathe before events overtake them.

Also with no Tyrion or Bronn to provide some banter the mood is relentlessly serious. Not a bad thing in itself if that's what the show is going for, but the levity is noticeably lacking in comparison to the original series.

[Fencers]

Supposedly Laena's 2nd child died soon after being birthed. To mirror Viserys' situation with his son earlier. If the doctors had cut the baby out, Laena would have died on the birthing bed most likely.

I appreciate the way this show depicts motherhood, birthing, and raising kids. When Rhaenyra had her afterbirth standing up & getting dressed- this bitch is a REAL ONE.

The cold humiliation and scorn when she was producing milk and Alicent called it out. If you ever had that happen to you in public as a mother- what a feeling. An incredible scene of writing and acting. Brilliant.

[Twdft]

And what a devious shit Larys is, he's going to be a lot of fun.

What do you mean devious? He is protecting his House which is threatened through the bastards of his brother, a problem his father understands but is too craven to really take care of. So Larys solves the problem, inherits Harrenhal which would normally go to his brother and has the queen indebted to him. His methods are cruel, but successful power move is successful.

Larys did nothing wrong

[Tekko]

Another great episode.

Had my worries about the new cast, but they all did really well.

I kinda liked Aegon (wasn't expecting to), he was pretty funny, and that window scene

[deenman]

Just starting watching the newest episode but damn...the first scene. They really do show how much it would truly suck to give birth in a period such as this...I'm not a "social justice warrior" or anything, but the show does a good job of portraying how the women characters face just as hard ordeals as the men

how would showing that in any way be some kind of social justice?have peoples brains truly rotted so much that they see every portrayal of a womans reality as some social justice?holy shit.....the nukes cant drop soon enough i swear

[Jotaux]

Rhaenyra should realize she holds all the power when it comes to Cole. She's a woman, the princess, heir to the throne. Just make the claim he tried to force himself on her and thats why he is no longer her personal guard.

[PACOX]

Great fking episode. Holy hell Alicent n Larys are doing so well making themselves into hateable villains. You can really see how the years and the people they spent time with affected everyone. Larys made Alicent worse, Alicent made Cole worse. Laena made Daemon a little more chill.

Lol it really is GoT when someone like Daemon actually experiences growth compared to the other characters people thought were 'good'.

- - - Updated - - -

Rhaenyra should realize she holds all the power when it comes to Cole. She's a woman, the princess, heir to the throne. Just make the claim he tried to force himself on her and thats why he is no longer her personal guard.

People would ask why they didn't kill Cole from the jump further they would why they would allow such a guy to guard the queen after assaulting a princess.

[Sanguinerd]

I really like the show so far but it just feel a bit rushed, could just be me though. Still it's been a while since I was last looking forward to the next episode each time.

[PACOX]

But did they took the baby out though? it was not clear, i imagined there was a timeframe to do both

Daemon told them not to go through with the c-section. She was most likely going to die due to the complications. She chose to die on her terms.

I think they want you to fill in the blanks because the exact details aren't that important. Her and the baby were fated to die.

[Syegfryed]

Daemon told them not to go through with the c-section. She was most likely going to die due to the complications. She chose to die on her terms.

I think they want you to fill in the blanks because the exact details aren't that important. Her and the baby were fated to die.

Yeah, i imagined, just hoped to be wrong i guess

Was her holding her swollen bloody belly not enough of an indicator?

Nope, cause wasn't that big, and usually the belly have some volume after birth

[Thelxi]

It's starting to bore and grate me tbh. The writing is pretty crude and very soapy. Rhaenyra's character is unintelligent and weak; I don't care to see her win any throne even though the show clearly wants me to. Alicent is an evil laugh short of a disney villain; who gives a shit about her. Criston's character is probably the most cartoonish and very hard to believe that not only is he still alive but now holds great politcal power. Quite the character development there. Otto can't hold a candle to Littlefinger/Varys, maybe the cripple will eventually do something interesting. The Velaryons are ok, but those wigs sure are distracting. The messy ultra-white afros were quite the artistic direction they went and stuck with.

Daemon is cool. Probably the only interesting character in the entire show with smooth and grounded character development. Everyone else is just going from checkbox to checkbox.

Overall not smart, ever subtle or remotely mysterious. I hope HBO is seeing what I'm seeing and raising the bar to HBO standards after this for future seasons/prequels. Not bad, but a far cry from what it could and should've been.

[PACOX]

Apparently there's a scene where Daemon was actually comforting his daughters. Kind of sucks that they cut it out. Just seeing him with a family and riding with Laena was a lot of growth. They could have put the icing on the cake with that scene.

[deepr]

So a Targaryen blond haired father with "regular" dark haired mother produces Targaryen blond haired kids.
A "regular" dark haired father with Targaryen blond haired mother produces dark haired kids.
And a Targaryen blond haired father with a Velaryon silver haired mother produces Velaryon silver haired kids.
Got it.

[Fortress of Arrogance]

The last episode...
Daemon has such a window for growth, but instead he's an apathetic househusband of 3.
The amount of attention focused on how Slutnyra is struggling with her childbirthing, how she perseveres and endures(all the while fucking behind husband's back), basically amounts to nothing and further shows she's not as capable or smart as first 3 episodes suggested.
Larys did an impeccable job, though. He might be the one who finally broke the camel's back in a metaphorical sense, what with Allicent realising she got her hands indirectly bloodied.

[Twdft]

So I’m assuming Helaena is a Dreamer and/or Greenseer, based on what she said about her brothers?

Yeah, she basically tells a nice spoiler: Aemond will have a dragon but also lose an eye

[Koriani]

Relevant to nothing but I meant to ask you guys here for clarification on this because the show doesn't (Or didn't in the first 4 episodes, haven't watched the NEWEST one yet).

Are we given any real idea WHAT the "infection" or "disease" the King has/is dying from?

In the initial episode I was thinking it was just an infected spot (they mentioned I think he cut himself on the iron throne?) where the infection was getting ahead of the treatments. But by episode 3/4 (whichever one had the wedding - can't remember) it seems that its not only spread over his arm/chest but that instead of infection I'm thinking it looks like the "Stone skin" disease dealt with in the original GOT series.

I realize we may never be 'intended' to know other than 'some wasting/progressive disease' and overall its not really important - but its just one of those details that, as a medical professional, I always like to know in books/tv shows/movies/etc.

So was just curious if perhaps the book specified this or if other people were thinking it was the "stone skin" disease as well or just - any other ideas?

[woodnf1]

They described it as a disease like leprosy.

[Twdft]

Are we given any real idea WHAT the "infection" or "disease" the King has/is dying from?

In the books it's gout at the end of his life. Show as said some kind of leprosy.

If it were grey scale people would try to stay the fuck away from him. Also it doesn't really look like he's turning to stone, and he'd be dead by episode two or so. But then again the Crabfeeder looked like he had grey scale and neither his men nor Daemon seemed to care much. Might be different for both series/books.

Death had lost its terror for Tyrion Lannister, but greyscale was another matter.
—thoughts of Tyrion Lannister[3]

He had heard it said that there were three good cures for greyscale: axe and sword and cleaver. Hacking off afflicted parts did sometimes stop the spread of the disease, Tyrion knew, but not always. Many a man had sacrificed one arm or foot, only to find the other going grey. Once that happened, hope was gone.
—thoughts of Tyrion Lannister[3]

He dare not let the greyscale become known. Queer as it seemed, men who would cheerfully face battle and risk death to rescue a companion would abandon that same companion in a heartbeat if he were known to have greyscale.
—thoughts of Jon Connington[10]

[Okacz]

So a Targaryen blond haired father with "regular" dark haired mother produces Targaryen blond haired kids.
A "regular" dark haired father with Targaryen blond haired mother produces dark haired kids.
And a Targaryen blond haired father with a Velaryon silver haired mother produces Velaryon silver haired kids.
Got it.

Apparently the two families in Westeros with the strongest genes are Targaryens, who maintained their "looks" despite numerous mixes, but even they are trumped by Baratheons. That's something that was for some weird reason omitted in the show - in the books, Rhaenys had black hair due to her half-Baratheon blood.

While the show makes it clear that Rhaenyras children are Strong Bastards, it shouldn't have been so obvious, as an alternate reason for their hair could be the latent Baratheon blood, giving Rhaenyra way better explanation to the public for her childrens looks other than "lol shut up".